Locked Up
by bloomsburry
Summary: As a result of genetic inheritance, the Purebloods and Half-bloods are considered prodigies. The Death Eaters and the Marauders are one of them. They excel in anything, even in music. And Hermione is among the finalists who will get to live with both the All-Male bands in a social experiment for three months. Yet not everything is as it seems...not when Death comes calling.
1. Chapter 1

**Year 2350**

 **The L. Cauldron Hotel**

Hermione was getting bored.

She's been stuck in her room for the last three hours with nothing to do but read her holobook and watch the hovcars descending and ascending through the gridlock transition point, which she could see through the glass panes of her room.

Just outside in her balcony, the plunging infinity pool was still steaming after Hermione had purposely left the heat transfer system running. Although she was able to see through the billow of heat and observed how a crackle of electricity had lit up when something fell into the forcefield in the far distance.

The field of energy was called the gridlock transpo. It served as a protective barrier between the air traffic on different Tiers and it was powered entirely by the omegalith Excalibur satellites orbiting in space. To transfer from different Tiers, whether to ascend or descend, the hovcar owners were required to go to the transition points that are built into spires.

Since she was in a room in line with Tier 100, she could see most of the hovcars moving around the black transition spire that jutted out like a sore thumb in the west part of the skyline.

It was fortunate that she had set the panes to veil mode to keep the air commuters from seeing her through her frameless glass walls of her hotel room. But it did allow her to see them zipping past by while she looked at the spectacular view of the neo-futuristic architectures outside.

From left to right, Hermione could see a line of towering, supermega skyscrapers that came along with the ARs appearing in the air. (Good thing that hovcars nowadays were sold with AR-shielding to prevent commuters from getting distracted and caused potential accidents.)

Burj Khalifa was ancient history with its 163 floors. Now, supermega skyscrapers were being built at astonishing speed of no less than three months, yet remained superior in terms of its architectural framework with most of them withstanding strong winds at the height of more than 3,000 ft, and supported by advanced environmental control system, and completed with sky parking space for hovcars.

This was the future and Hermione was looking at its entirety as she lay on her floating, feather bed. (a bed powered by magnetic force at the bottom panel, where she could control the height of levitation using the controller _Leviosa_.)

The FF Group had set her up in this room the moment Hermione had arrived at the hotel. (That had been two weeks ago)

Unable to use her airscooter since it was due for its monthly check, Hermione had called the Knight's Hov to pick her up from her house using the Knight's Hov app on her holophone.

* * *

 **Flashback**

Upon arriving on the front lobby of the L. Cauldron Hotel, Hermione did as she had been instructed and approached someone carrying a specific item (a red silk embroidered potli bag with a dense metal and bead handwork forming a star, and stylish bead studded handle.)

A woman with almond shaped hazel eyes, frizzy black hair and wearing a navy blue shade cambric cotton patiala suit, had been carrying the potli bag that matched well with the description.

The woman looked up from her holotab as soon as Hermione approached her.

For a short while, Hermione stood there uncertainly. She was told to say the password when she would see a person carrying the item. The person would be one of the representatives from the FF Group who was sent to meet and also give her the next instructions.

Now that she was there, however, she was having doubts about the entire thing. Spouting out coded words to someone she just saw sitting in the lobby would definitely make her look like a complete loon. But the pair of hazel eyes that were staring at her rather expectantly made Hermione hesitate.

Once again, she glanced at the polti bag on the woman's hand, scrutinizing it closely.

It fit perfectly with the specific item that Hermione was told to look for.

Deciding that she might as well try, Hermione met the woman's gaze and said, "Draco Dormiens..."

"Nunquam Titillandus." the woman finished, giving her a formal smile. She slowly rose up from the Cruzador lounge sofa she had been sitting on and extended her hand forward.

Hermione took it automatically, giving the stranger's hand a firm shake,

"Welcome to the L. Cauldron Hotel. I am glad you are able to make it... My name is Aurora Sinistra. You may call me, Madam Sinistra and I will be your guide for today… Shall we?"

Before Hermione could open her mouth and say something, or introduce herself properly, the woman, who called herself Aurora Sinistra, was already ushering her towards the EL in haste, almost like she was in a hurry.

Hermione noticed the woman nodding to T.O.M - the front clerk robot - briefly.

They passed by some people who were on their way to take the ELs as well. Hermione was barely able to admire the disconcerting extravagance of the front lobby before the sliding doors of the EL closed behind her.

Once safely ensconced within the cylindrical glass tube, Madam Sinistra had then given Hermione a datacube - the size of a sugar cube - containing beamed instructions.

"You can open it once you are safely in your room," the woman told her while Hermione used the Rtooth to siphon the data into her holophone which she had taken from her pursed.

The datacube slowly dissolved and disappeared from existence, indicating that the data transfer was completed.

Hermione would be able to read it later.

"Other than the beamed instructions, it is of the utmost importance that you do not talk to other people while you are here, except the handlers that will occasionally check up on you and accompany you to your scheduled appointments. If you have any questions, you may address it to them. However, they are not obligated to answer all of your questions and they have the right to withhold information from you regarding the final process."

"I understand," Hermione said, looking outside the glass tube, observing as they zipped and maneuvered past ELs that were transporting hotel guests to their destination within the L. Cauldron Hotel.

"From now on, the representatives from the FF Group will be addressing you as Ms. G. It is to keep your identity a secret. No one knows your reason for being here other than us. Hence, it is imperative that you remain incognito."

"Am I the only one here?" Hermione asked, not needing to elaborate what she meant, for surely the woman would understand the question.

"There are others," Madam Sinistra confirmed, "-but you are not allowed to talk to them. If you do, we will know. Spies are planted to make sure that you follow the instructions. These same people will immediately report back to us if you have violated the terms. Remember, that you are still only considered as a potential finalist, the higher-ups has the choice to whether let you stay or eliminate you."

...

Hermione recalled the chill that had raced up her spine at the way Madam Sinistra had termed it, for being cut off from the final casting process.

Afterwards, the woman had lead Hermione to her room and had provided her with a short tour around the vast, opulent place that she would be staying for an undetermined time.

Outside, in the balcony, Hermione saw an infinity pool overlooking the supermega skyscrapers, the white clouds drifting outside, and the expensive hover cars that were allowed to travel in that Tier level.

Hermione also discovered that there was a Gymn in her hotel room as well and an entertainment area equipped with the latest techs, including the new AR Vision that came out from the market six months ago.

"You may be able to have unlimited access to the interholo for the entire duration of your stay here. Everything will be paid by the FF Group. However, all communication devices are inactivated as of the moment, but if you make a request to call your home, you may be granted permission to do so."

When the woman was done with the tour, Madam Sinistra had given her the keycard, her stipend for the week, and the discount coupons. Afterwards, she notified Hermione regarding the strict curfew that the FF Group had established for her, and others like her.

"You must be in your room before ten in the evening. Every night, someone will come here and take your keycard and lock you in your room until six in the morning. It is another precautionary measure that the FF Group is taking that will prevent you and the others from making contact with outsiders."

There was a paused while Madam Sinistra regarded her. Hermione nodded her head in silence to indicate that she understood perfectly.

"While you are lock in your room for the night, no one - including the hotel personnel - are allowed to talk to you, and no exceptions can be made. I hope you remember this, Ms. G."

"I'll keep that in mind, Madam Sinistra. Thank you for informing me."

Then, the woman had left Hermione to her own devices.

It gave Hermione plenty of time to unpack her stuff and read the beamed instructions in her holophone. The beam of light contained a detailed schedule of appointments and exams that she needed to go through, along with the compulsory to attend her pool and gym time schedule.

Hermione frowned at the latter, wondering why the need for the pool and gym schedule

* * *

Around Lunch time, someone had knocked at her door, and that was when Hermione had first met Madam Sprout; a stout woman with curly grey-black hair.

Madam Sprout had been Hermione's PA during the first week.

"I will be showing you the place where you are supposed to eat your meals and accompany you if needed." Madam Sprout informed her. She was smiling cordially while both of them were walking towards the EL.

Compared to Madam Sinistra, Madam Sprout was more... _affable._

"Oh ok," was Hermione's reply as they stepped into the glass tube that would lead them to Tier 80 where most of the restaurants were situated.

That day Hermione had found out how expensive the food and drinks were in the L. Cauldron. If it hadn't been for the coupons and the weekly stipend that the FF Group had provided, Hermione would have ended up broke.

Madam Sprout had sat with her while Hermione had eaten her Lunch. She remembered asking some questions to clarify some of the things that were still very vague to her.

Although the woman hadn't been very forthcoming about other things, but she did answer Hermione's query concerning some of the people who were supposed to be spying on her every move.

"They are in disguise but they are always watching you. Some might even talked to you to try and see if you engage in the conversation.…"

"And if I do?"

"It depends on what information you have easily divulged, and whether it is something that warrants immediate disqualification or not."

Hermione should have known it was strategy of the FF Group to foster paranoia and increase the pressure on the finalists. Yet she had been easily fooled, and for a moment there, she had felt like she was being watched.

Unbeknownst to her, someone had indeed been watching her.

However, it wasn't actually a mole planted amongst the crowd of strangers like Madam Sprout had implied.

It had been someone else.

On that same day, during dinner (Madam Sprout hadn't been there to join her) that had been the moment when Hermione saw Mr. N.

"Good evening, Mr. N. What will you want for today?"

At the coded name, Hermione's head had instantly whipped around. Her eyes landing on the robot waiter; T.O.M, and someone sitting two tables away from her and reading the menu.

Hermione couldn't see his face with the holoscreen blurring his features, but she listened to him order his dinner.

"Yes, I want the Samundari Khazana and Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne."

Hermione heard the person say and couldn't help but wonder who he was that he was able to afford such an expensive dinner. It was twenty times the amount of the stipend that the FF Group had given to Hermione.

The person was using his pocket money to buy his dinner. Yet the coded name entailed that he must be...

"Will that be all?"

She watched as the person flicked the menu off and Hermione finally saw his face.

Astonishment washed over her.

She knew that face.

Hermione practically saw it every day on some holoAds and ARstreams while she's driving her airscooter on her way to school.

The son and heir to one of Sacred Twenty-Eight from the Pureblood Society.

"Yes, that would be all. Thank you."

Hermione heard him say to T.O.M, where the robot swiftly left to encode the order to the R.A floating nearby.

As if sensing her stare, the dark-haired male turned to look up.

Hermione's eyes met his amber gaze from across the room.

The twenty-three year old model smiled at her, his synthetic cat-like amber eyes gleamed.

Hermione's eyes narrowed.

She didn't need to be inform by anyone that the ponce knew she was there with the same reason as him.

To be **Locked Up.**

 **….**

* * *

Since then, Hermione had often seen Mr. N during meals, but they had never interacted. They weren't allowed to talk to each other. So they contented themselves by simply eyeing each other from afar and trying to gauge for possible weaknesses just by looks alone.

During the third day, Hermione had met the EP, Armando Dippet and Albus Dumbledore.

Madam Sprout accompanied her to Tier 150 and up to the 250th floor.

It was a place built from all-diamondglass, a towering monolith situated at the top floors of the L. Cauldron, divided from the main building through a magnetic force where it hovered two stories above, and could only be accessible through five running VIP pods.

The monolith was rounded at the corners, hollowed at the middle where only authorized vehicles were parked in the circular silver air strip right there.

Seeing that the L. Cauldron Hotel was a prominent hotspot for notable pureblood members of the Society, as well as wealthy muggles (mainly because it had an entrance to the Diagon Alley and its exclusive chains of merchandise stores), it's only reasonable that the hotel was protected by an impressive line of security system to protect its patrons.

In the pinnacle - the diamond glass monolith - each floor revolved around horizontally or vertically, clockwise or counterclockwise - like a rubix cube - in no order and with such irregularity to further confuse any who would threaten to target one specific high-ranking Pureblood or anyone residing in any of its rooms.

There were also Level 10 impact and shock-absorber barriers that wrapped around the structure like an invisible armour, while unauthorized vehicles weren't allowed to fly near that zone, or they would be shot down by drones if vehicle owners refused to give their identification.

It was a building reserved only for the wealthiest and influential individuals that generally had an annual net worth of around trillions of galleon pounds. And for the first time, in all her nineteen years of life as any normal muggle, Hermione could step into the place and meet two of its temporary guests.

* * *

 **Flashback**

After seating herself in a front of them on a chair designed from elastic 5D fibres that absorbed her weight, both of the Executive Producers had directly asked her questions and Hermione had answered to the best of her abilities.

"What made you decide to apply for this social experiment, Ms. G?" Mr. Dumbledore was the first one to ask, followed by Mr. Dippet, who said: "Was it for the chance of being among the thirty finalists who will be _Locked Up_ together with two of the most popular crowd of prodigies from the Pureblood Society?"

Very much aware of the wristband on her wrist that the two Purebloods had given to her under the pretense of extending their congratulations for being amongst the fortunate who had been accepted, Hermione took some time to answer.

She knew what the wristband was since she had heard her parents discussed about them. The Riddle LabCorp had supplied different types of wristbands to a focus group, most were medical practitioners, including Hermione's parents, to evaluate consumer response to the product prior to launching it into the market.

Both Hermione's parents were DenSpecs. They specialize in cleaning, restoration, aligning, oral surgery, therapy - or most often - stimulating ectoderm to promote teeth growth which would require hours of Dental Micro Surgery. It also meant the need for long-acting anesthesia.

The Riddle Labcorp had both provided Hermione's parents a supply of anesthesia wristbands.

After trying the wristbands on their patients, Allison and Joseph Granger had nothing but praise for it. They had given a positive review, and 9 out of 10 pentagrams for the product. And later, telling the company that they would buy it once it was available on the market.

The wristband that Hermione was wearing, however, was not an anesthesia wristband. It was something else entirely.

Given that the _Locked Up_ experiment would involve living with, and getting close to the Pureblood members of the Society, Hermione suspected that the wristband was for them to ensure that most finalist, that were chosen, weren't there to possibly harm one of their kind while inside the Castle.

Hermione concluded that the wristband must be one of those that contained a mild form of _sodium thiopental_ \- or in other words - veritaserum (a truth serum). If absorbed through skin and into the bloodstream, it would force the wearer only to tell the truth.

Some finalist might not be unaware of what the wristband could do, but Hermione had prior knowledge to it and knew how to slow down the effects.

Hermione started holding her breath for about five seconds while she talked. If she slowed down her breathing, the supply of oxygen on her red blood cells would decrease, hindering the pentothal from attaching itself into her blood and thus delaying its effects to reach her brain.

"To be quite honest, Mr. Dippet, Mr. Dumbledore." Hermione began, still trying to control her breathing. "It wasn't really my plan at all to join the _Locked Up_. My best friend, her name is Cho Chang, she was the one who convinced me to apply and send a holorecording of myself to the Four Founder's Group. I have never expected that I would be picked from the random selection and get the invitation for the final casting process."

The two men must have noticed her odd breathing pattern because Hermione saw them exchanged a brief look.

When Mr. Dumbledore turned to look at her once more, Hermione saw the twinkle in his blue eyes.

It puzzled Hermione that it seemed her method of trying to counteract the effects of the wristband had pleased both the Executive Producers.

Surprisingly, they didn't comment on it.

A creeping suspicion rose up within Hermione, telling her that the wristband must be some kind of test that.

"You are very fortunate Ms. G, because out of more than a billion of hopefuls, and most of them fans of the Death Eaters and the Marauders, you have been encoded by our Quill of Admittance as a potential candidate to be _Locked Up_ in the Hogwart's Castle. Whether you are a fan of the two groups or not, I'm glad that you didn't back out from this opportunity to be seen and recognized by the entire world."

"I hear from Ms. McGonagall that Ms. G here had nearly denied the invitation." Mr. Dippet said, scrutinizing Hermione. "You are a very unusual girl, Miss G. Other people out there would die to get this chance to be seen and gain fame while locked up in the Hogwart's Castle. Yet from what Ms. McGonagall have told me, you were ready to decline our invitation when she contacted you. I believe you would have, if she hadn't given you the time to think twice about it. May I ask the reason behind your hesitation?"

Hermione was glad for the sleek, geometrical table that stood between her and the two executive producers. It gave her the opportunity to hide the movements of her hands.

"It's a simple reason, really. I was planning to study this summer for the entrance exam in Oxfarva University -"

Hermione wanted to become an **_Alucinari_** ; a new course major that the Oxfarva University started offering this year.

It was a type of Psychologist solely for the Purebloods. If Hermione obtained a Bacherlor's and Masteral's Degree on that course, she would be able to go in and understand more how the Pureblood mind work.

If not that, Hermione could always fall back to her second choice of becoming a BioTechno Engineer.

With them hanging unto her every word, Hermione swiftly dragged her wristband against her black cammo polyester pants.

" -So I thought... I won't be able to do that if ever I'm chosen as one of the thirty finalist to be locked up in the Hogwart's Castle -"

Using the right amount of pressure, Hermione forcefully turned the wristband inside-out, consequently rendering it ineffective with its microscopic filaments currently exposed to the air, where it had previously been expelling the chemicals directly into her skin.

Hermione would have approximately around 30 seconds before she would be able to lie.

"-If I am to live with the two groups and thirty other people under 24/7 hours of surveillance. It won't be a conducive environment for me to study. The Death Eaters or the Marauders might even create such a ruckus that it will be difficult for me to concentrate."

Now, Hermione's frank answer seemed to have amuse the two middle-aged men even further.

"So what changed your mind?"

"It was my parents who convinced me to come for the final casting process."

"What did they say to convince you?"

It's time to test if Hermione could lie.

"They told me that they will be paying for the courses that I will choose in the future, but on one condition…" Hermione paused while the two men leaned in with interest. "If I got them a personal autograph from both the heirs of the Riddle LabCorp and Potter Electronic Industries."

 _Yes, it worked._

The reason her parents had given 9 out of 10 pentagrams during the product review; it was mainly due to the wristbands being slightly loose that it still allowed room for movement and the chance of possibly turning it inside-out; like Hermione had purposely done to make its purpose ineffective.

Fortunately, Hermione's parents hadn't encountered this problem during their initial test run on their patients, lest the patients would have been in extreme pain during the surgery.

Mr. Dumbledore and Mr. Dippet now looked equally intrigued.

"Are your parents both fans of the Death Eaters and the Marauders?" Mr. Dumbledore inquired.

"No, not the group as a whole." Hermione clarified. "My parents are fans of both Mr. Riddle's and Mr. Potter's brainchild."

There was a long pause as the two stared at her, uncertain if she was jesting or not.

"Do you mean the new AR Vision?" Mr. Dumbledore started, a puzzled frown knitting his brows.

Hermione knew that both Tom Riddle and James Potter had developed the new AR that came out six months ago.

Currently, both the Riddle Labcorp, Potter Electronic Industries, and their associates were using an effective marketing strategy that would promote the ARs through mainstreaming, and using their newly formed group (though separate) - the instant global sensation - The Marauders and The Death Eaters.

This, of course, had drawn other business corporations, such as the Four Founder's Group, to capitalize on the group's fame to their advantage, and set up a stage for them in the upcoming social experiment, the _Locked Up_ , which would ultimately fill the overloaded pockets of many Purebloods with a disgusting amount of gold.

 _Greedy Bastards._

"No, my parents became great admirers of them for creating...the new version of Pokemon Go. The one with the Lord of the Rings Crossover." Hermione lied, trying to keep a straight face while she gauge to see the men's reaction.

She saw surprise flicker on both Executive Producer's eyes.

The two stared at her like she had just grown two heads until they both realized what she was on about.

The men exchanged glances once more before nodding their head in unison.

Abruptly, Mr. Dippet stood up and extended a hand towards Hermione which she automatically took.

The man was smiling.

"Congratulations, Ms. G. You pass the initial interview. We hope that we will get to see you on the finals." He told her, shaking her hand firmly.

Mr. Dumbledore stood up to shake her hand as well. "Thank you for meeting us today Ms. G. You've provided us with something to think about. It's been a pleasure meeting you."

They didn't comment on how Hermione was able to lie through the verita serum wristband, which only confirmed Hermione's theory that it had been a test after all.

A test she had past.

And it seemed Mr. N had past as well because Hermione could still see his arrogant figure sitting two to three tables away from her every time she came down to eat her meals.

Hermione didn't know who else had passed the test. The restaurant was often packed by other kinds of people, both from residential and corporate inhabitants in the L. Cauldron, as well as temporary guests, so it was difficult for Hermione to distinguish who else was there for the final casting process.

* * *

Three days after her meeting with both Mr. Dumbledore and Mr. Dippet, Hermione was then asked to take the standardized IQ test and Personality test.

The test was conducted within an anechoic chamber, which was designed by walls, ceilings and floors from 3.3 inches of sound-absorbent wedges, built within double insulated steel and concrete, and then reinforced with a 50 mm of ballistic glass.

It was a chamber to drive anyone insane in less than an hour with no sound but you.

At around -9 dBA, Hermione could hear the sound of her beating heart, the chugging of blood within her veins, the churning of her stomach, and even the sharp rasping of her lungs as it collapsed and expanded with each breath she took.

Hermione was used to the silence in the library, but this kind of silence produced hallucinations.

So by the time it reached around ten minutes while she scrambled to answer the question, she started hallucinating.

It was only through sheer amount of concentration that she was able to ignore the figure of a woman who was standing still beside her.

The form had appeared as a vague shape at first, and as minutes pass by while Hermione answered the exampad on the table, the woman seemed to solidify.

The black figure stood right next to her, just watching how Hermione tapped on the touchscreen pad with shaking fingers.

It was standing still as a statue. It looked sleek as black marble. With no eyes and nose, but with a mouth, and hair so long it reached the floor.

It didn't have arms, but it had razor sharp teeth, and blackened - by what appeared to be -days old blood.

And the figure was grinning wide from ear to ear, like someone had slit through the sides of its mouth to give it a Glasgow smile.

Hermione felt only horror gripping her heart. The sound of her racing heartbeat was like the sound of a deafening thunderclap.

As time passed by, the figure seemed to lean in closer and closer to Hermione. She watched it from the corner of her eyes; a scream lodged within Hermione's throat as it pressed its wide, grinning mouth right beside Hermione's face.

 _Just a hallucination! This chamber is designed to break the mind! Don't fail your test!_ She thought as her fingers frantically continued to tap –tap- tapping on the exampad.

She was almost done. She had to finish the exam.

 _Just close! Ten more items! Don't fail! Don't fail! Or that thing is going to eat you!_

As if reading her thoughts, the faceless figure started whispering into her ear. It's black, long hair sliding against the floor that produce a sound like sharp iron nails dragging against glass.

"You will fail. FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!"

Hermione felt like screaming.

 _Concentrate Hermione! Concentrate! That thing is a Boggart! A Boggart just like Madam Sprout had warn you about! It's just a hallucination produced by long stay in anechoic chamber! Ignore it!_

The Boggart continued to whisper at her. "You're a failure! Failure! You are –"

Hermione finally tap finish button on the exampad and instantly leapt up to her feet and ran towards the door.

She heard the Boggart screaming... or was it her?

As soon as she came out of the room, and could finally hear other sounds other than her bodily functions, Hermione immediately vomited on the floor.

A sweeperbot came out from the wallchute to clean the mess when it had detected the contamination.

Madam Sprout had been sitting just outside in a Cruzador chair, when Hermione came running out from the test chamber.

The woman had hurriedly came to assist her.

"Do you need to go to the Clinic?" Madam Sprout asked with worry and Hermione shook her head.

"I'm fine. I just need to go to my room."

Hermione still felt like vomiting again. She didn't know how long she had been in the chamber.

It felt like she had been there for hours.

"How long was I inside?" Hermione asked after rinsing her mouth with a bottle of Aguamenti which Madam Sprout had handed to her.

"Around forty-five minutes and ten seconds," Madam Sprout respond automatically.

 _She's been counting._ Hermione noted, narrowing her eyes.

The test wasn't completely about the things that she had answered on the exampad, but how long she had lasted in the chamber.

It was test of how long Hermione was able to hold her sanity in check.

Later, Hermione was told that she past the second test, and so did Mr. N because he was still there. It meant that the FF Group was still eyeing her and him as possible participants.

* * *

A week after that, she met Dr. Firenze, a Psychologist for her Psych A Exam _._ It had provided her a small respite when she discovered that the Psych Exams were normal exams, and not an unpleasant exam like she had experienced in the anechoic chamber.

The moment she entered into the Doctor's office, Hermione swiftly deduced that the Doctor held an interest in Astronomy, judging from the embedded glowing celestial objects on his glass chassis walls.

The walls must had been reinforced by polycarbonate and layers of laminated glass to make it impenetrable against strong winds in that altitude; albeit thin enough to allow Hermione to see an unobscured view outside, yet still glimpsed celestial processes like supernovae explosions and gamma ray bursts displayed in the glass.

Silently, Hermione contemplated if it was a recorded live feeds that was taken from the hubble spectroscopy she could see standing outside his balcony.

Hermione sat on the Cruzador sofa as the doctor began explaining to her the reasons for the Psych exams.

"The FF Group has made it a prerequisite that all potential Hogwart's finalist must undergo the Psych Evaluation Exams for us to determine if you have the capacity to withstand the psychological impact and emotional minefield that you will face while staying in the castle for three months. With no outside contacts, constantly under surveillance and with the increasing pressure of every expulsion night..."

There was a paused while Hermione waited for him to continue.

"This will prove to be quite stressful to some of the participants and might push them to act irrationally, even to the extent of having a mental breakdown, and in turn, can possibly endanger the people within the castle. Hence, the need for the Psych exams… Furthermore, we want someone who falls under a predictable behavioral pattern and least likely to act on their violent impulses, what I mean to say is, the FF Group is looking for participants who don't have similar traits as that of a Psychopath. With these exams, it will lessen the risks of wrong-casting murderers into the castle."

"And are both the Death Eaters and Marauders being subjected to the same exams as _us_ , the finalists?" Hermione inquired.

This had bothered her when she began taking her test. She wondered if the two group was exempted from the exams because they were… _The Death Eaters and The Marauders_ after all.

"They have their own exams, yes, but I can't tell you more than that."

Beside the hololight of a centaur on the Doctor's Volno-Floor mounted table, Hermione could see the Vtrans device sliding open; a device that would transcribe the conversation into beamed words to be read through any holosystem interface (HSI).

The doctor started drilling Hermione with questions, such as:

"Can you tell me more about yourself?"

"What are your hobbies, motivations, goals?"

"What are the things you dislikes the most and people that you don't get along with?"

Hermione answered everything without holding back.

Dr. Firenze listened, but at the same time, he kept on checking on the holopad in front of him, which Hermione assumed must contained her files and her answers during the Personality and IQ tests.

He also asked her if she had history of substance abuse among other things.

"Have you previously used drugs? Do you smoke? Have you tried to kill yourself? Have you been admitted to a Psych Hospital? Have you been convicted of a crime? Ever harm anyone?"

And along with some uncomfortable questions.

"At what age did you become sexually active? How many sexual partners have you been with? Have you ever had problems with-"

Dr. Firenze might have continued on if Hermione hadn't step in.

"I have never had sex." She told him, forcing herself not to fidget in discomfort.

The Doctor looked startled at her answer.

After a short pause, he backtracked and said to her, "I see... May I ask the reason why that is?"

As much as Hermione wanted to lie about her lack of sexual experience, she couldn't possibly do so when Dr. Firenze had injected her with a shot of truth serum prior to the exam.

"I'm a scholar, you see, and I have to maintain my grades and remain at the Top, or else I'll lose my position in the Veela Five. Beauxbatons Academy are well-known for expelling students if they failed to keep up with their rigorous school curriculum. So I've been preoccupied with my studies that I haven't got the time for dating," Hermione explained and added. "The only dates that I'm able to have are study dates with my friends, while the semblance of romance that I'm able to experience, is through reading the preclassics in my holotab."

And those unusual dreams that she had a hard time recalling in the last three years; dreams of a life being adored and loved by people...by men with faces hidden in the shadows.

The Doctor had simply nodded his head in understanding and continued to ask her questions. Fortunately, it was no longer about her absent sex life.

It must be around 30 minutes after, when Dr. Firenze finally announced that he was done with the Psych Evaluation.

However, before Hermione could leave, the man had given her a forewarning.

"If you enter the castle, you will gain recognition. There's no doubt about that. Will it be a good thing? Not necessarily. I tell you this, Ms. G….if you proceed, this can very well be damaging to your mind."

Dr. Firenze had warned her, whether it was another scare tactic that the FF Group was trying out or not, it was an enough indication to Hermione that she had passed the Psych A Exam.

* * *

Madam Hooch, who was her handler at that time, had then led her to the next Psych B Exam. The Psychologist this time was a robust man with straw blonde hair - which Hermione presumed must be the result of hair follicular enhancement.

Dr. Horace Slughorn greeted her with an enthusiasm that surprised Hermione.

"Come on in, Ms. G! Come in! Come in!"

Hermione immediately notice the obnoxious amount of holographic images displayed on every tables, shelves and even the glass walls of Dr. Slughorn's office that showed captured vids of himself alongside well-known AV personalities, influential ministry officials, heirs and heiresses from the Sacred Twenty-Eight of the Pureblood Society, and other affluent individuals that Hermione didn't recognize.

Sitting down on the circular disk of a chair with curving cushion at the back, Hermione frowned in consternation when she saw a holovid of the Marauders and the Death Eaters in the same scene.

All ten of them were either smiling or in some form of camaraderie. She saw James Potter grinning widely with his arms slung in both Tom Riddle's and Sirius Black's shoulders.

The Black Heir had the same sly smile as James Potter, while Tom Riddle on the other hand, was frowning with his arms crossed in front of him, a far cry from the other two dark-haired men.

Apart from that, Hermione also noticed how very different they were. Tom Riddle was all manners and propriety. It showed well in the set of his broad shoulder - his posture ramrod straight, and at the way he impeccably dressed himself in blue-black slim-fit tailored BioLogic formal wear and an evening coat trimmed with fur collar.

His hair perfectly combed back with some rebellious waves curling at his forehead and the back of his neck and ears. Though Hermione noted the man's lapis lazuli eyes - framed by thick, dark lashes - held a slight warmth through its frosty blue, when he stared straight out the holoshot.

In contrast, Sirius Black, in his laidback manner, kept his black hair at shoulder length. It was slightly wavy and lustrously thick, accentuating the man's handsome, rugged features; his strong jawline, thin long nose, high cheekbones with a slight scar below his left eye, and he had cleft on his chin.

The man's blue-grey eyes were alight with an inner fire - either borne from mischief and rebellion. He wore clothes that fit well with his personality, and it did justice to display his admirable lean physique; in blue-black Technoleather jacket, a royal blue V-neck shirt beneath it, and grey loose pants, combined with a sleek black combat boots and black thinsulate fingerless gloves.

He had the insignia of trouble stamped all over him.

Right smack in the middle of the two men, stood James Potter, with his unruly raven-black hair and his eyes glowing green, which could only mean that he was wearing Rob2 absorbable lenses to improve his eyesight.

His fashion style was a mixture between something formal and informal. In an earthen palette, he wore a shearling line jacket over a pristine white long sleeve shirt, unbuttoned at the neck and showing more of his sun-kissed skin. His ensemble was completed with a dark dress pants and brown round-pointed Yepme shoe made of synthetic PVC.

Like the other two beside him, James Potter was an attractive man. He had two dimples peeking from either side of his mouth when he smiled. He looked arrogant but equally playful at the same time.

Hermione was certain that many had fallen for that smile. In silence, she admitted that she liked the shape of his eyes with the hint of laugh wrinkles at the corners.

Just beside Tom Riddle, the Malfoy twins, Abraxas and Lucius, were wearing dark green and steel grey formal suits; and obviously a product from their personal tailors. They were standing shoulder to shoulder, slightly back to back with their chin lifted up haughtily as expected from the wealthiest pureblood family.

Their tailors had fitted them with suits that emphasized the broadness of their shoulders, the undeniable outline of their muscular chest, and ultimately complimented the silken silver of their hair.

The only way to distinguished the two of them apart was through their hairstyle. Abraxas had his long platinum blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, displaying most of the sharp angles of his pale, aristocratic features.

In comparison, Lucius Malfoy had his long hair tied in a low ponytail. And both of them were sporting that trademark Malfoy smirk plastered across their lips.

Hermione was certain that the devastatingly handsome pair could have easily made women faint by the sight of them standing together.

Hermione, however, turned her attention to the two men beside Sirius Black. Closest to him, a man with light brown hair and a couple of scars - of what appeared to be claw marks - must be Remus Lupin.

The man was smiling warmly, a hand draped over Sirius Black's shoulder, his head tilted slightly to the side.

Remus Lupin had soulful and kind green eyes and he was wearing neutral colours in slim-fitting dress suit. Broad across the shoulders and tapered to a lean waist, which Hermione could gauge base from his body alignment.

Although, if he stood next to Sirius Black, he's musculature wasn't built as an athlete. He had a scholarly air about him and Hermione instinctively knew that she would like him instantly if they meet.

After Remus Lupin, Hermione's eyes settled on the man who look no more than twenty-four years old and had a cherubic face. (Hermione was fairly certain that he had surgery for that.)

The man had curly brown hair with golden highlights at the end, bright blue eyes and completed with a bow shaped lips. He was also smiling rather impishly in a way that made some girls, and older women, want to pinch his cheeks.

Hermione recalled Cho Chang saying that his name was Peter Pettigrew. He was the shortest of the group of men who towered mostly beyond six feet tall.

Peter Pettigrew probably was around 5'8.

Next, Hermione's attention shifted to the three men beside the Malfoy twins. One had cropped short black hair and beside him was another man with the same hairstyle, but he had platinum blonde hair.

They were Regulus Black and Draco Malfoy.

The youngest Black heir had a sombre look about him. His face was nearly expressionless, his lips pulled tight in a straight line, the corners tilted downwards. He looked so serious that he appeared to be older than even his elder brother; Sirius Black.

Carefully, she noted that he had similar features like his older brother; the chiselled jawline, the aquiline nose, and the arch of his brows.

However, Hermione found his face more aesthetically-pleasing, especially when she saw his eyes.

His eyes were like molten gold.

She immediately knew that there was something special about those eyes.

However, before she could think more on that, her attention went back to the blonde standing beside him; Draco Malfoy.

Like his older brothers, he had the same aristocratic features. He was tall, perhaps a few inches shorter than the twins. Also, he appeared to be in tip-top shape like Regulus Black beside him. Meanwhile, his silver-mercury eyes were the exact opposite to Regulus golden orbs.

His eyes were like a still pond, a pond with the moon casting reflection upon it, she wondered how many girls had drowned in those silver pools.

Draco Malfoy's smirk was slightly off though. It didn't hold the same arrogance as the twins. It carried more weight...heavy with responsibility, where Hermione caught a glimpse of it reflected in his silver eyes.

There was also a strain in the corners of his mouth that she couldn't see in his older brother's smirk.

Nonetheless, the youngest Malfoy heir still cut a fine figure in green leather military jacket, with silver circular buttons, paired with a black neck-warmer, black slacks and forest green Kraasa boots.

Whereas Regulus Black wore a sleek black mod military jacket, somewhat resembling a bullet proof vests with geometric knits with inverted triangles on the chest, combined with utilitarian lightweight camo trousers, with the same forest green combat boots, and curiously, a golden necklace hanging around his neck.

The two didn't look like they were dress for a party when the holo was taken. They look, more or less, like people who just came out from Military training instead.

Last but not the least, Hermione's eyes landed on the man standing sideways beside Draco Malfoy. He was pale with jet black hair, which was cut at a shoulder length style, some of it fell over the side of his face.

He wore all black, with black double-breasted coat over a white stand-up collar shirt, a pair of black trouser pants and an Aadi black formal shoes.

The man's features were sharp around the cheeks and smooth down his chin. He had a hooked nose that added character to an otherwise inscrutable face. His pink lips were thin, pursed together in a frown that match the knit in his brows. But there was something about him...

It must be his haunting, dark brown eyes.

After that, Hermione looked at all of them, regarding them as a whole, and concluded that they were an odd lot. Certainly, heads would turn if these ten men were seen in the same room because each of them had an air that commanded respect...and of course, they were all powerful men, who came from wealthy and influential families.

They were bound to draw attention if they came in as a group. Hermione could practically see women stumbling all over themselves just to get near them.

Though Hermione mused that the men would have definitely clash due to their different personalities, but it seemed both James Potter and Tom Riddle had managed to keep the group together during that time.

However, a year ago, Hermione remembered the news of the two bringing some kind of dispute to the Wizengamot (A Court for the Purebloods). Everything was hushed up, but in the end, the reports stated that the two had settled at unspecified price.

It still didn't stop people from speculating though.

Like the rest, she had wondered what had caused a rift between the two heirs of the Riddle LabCorp and Potter Electronic Industries, which had resulted to the ten friends to part ways and choose sides.

Surprisingly, from what Hermione had heard, both James Potter's and Tom Riddle's fathers - Fleamont Potter and Tom Riddle Sr. - had remained cordial and best of friends.

It appeared that the conflict was only between the heirs and their closest friends.

Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew had chosen James Potter. Meanwhile, the twins, Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy, and their younger brother, Draco - together with Regulus Black and Severus Snape - had chosen Tom Riddle.

Ten friends broken apart for a reason.

"Ah, yes.. _.them_ **.** " Dr. Slughorn said when he followed Hermione's gaze to the still holoshot of the ten men currently expanded up in the screen with their figures towering up to the high ceiling like ten giants...or _Gods_.

"That picture was taken four years ago during an Annual Party for the Purebloods. I've known those ten since their years in Durmstrang Institute. _The KRT_ , some might call them during their Uni Years...That was before the... _rift_ occurred. It's sad to see such good friends torn apart…."

Dr. Slughorn shook his head.

Hermione didn't comment. She hardly knew the men and she didn't want to appear like a gossip monger if she started asking question.

After a short pause, Dr. Slughorn straightened and directly addressed the reason she was there.

"So...I'm sure you already have a strategy?" Dr. Slughorn began.

"My strategy?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"Your strategy to remain longer in the castle."

"I don't have a strategy actually…"

Dr. Slughorn stared at her, his smile faltering.

"Is acting as myself considered a strategy?" Hermione asked instead.

She could almost tell that the Dr. Slughorn was disappointed with her answer.

That wouldn't do. She needed to make a good impression, lest she would be disqualified from the final casting process.

Hermione changed tactic and smiled. "Of course, I have a strategy, Dr. Slughorn. I was only... _testing_ to see how you would react if I don't."

Dr. Slughorn brows rose in surprised.

"Then, what will you do to remain in the castle?"

So Hermione told him what she thought would be shocking.

"My plan is to.. _inculcate_ myself into the two group's... _good graces_."

Even as Hermione said those words, she wanted to take them back, or scrub it off her mouth for its suggestive implication. Just thinking about it made Hermione sick.

She sounded like she was ready to sell her body like a common whore.

She was glad that she hadn't been injected with a truth serum or Dr. Slughorn could tell she was lying.

Enable for Hermione to pass the exam, she had to discard her prudish and goody-toe-shoes persona and show a shrewd and ruthless side of herself, or pretend to be; a femme fatale hidden beneath layers of a nun hobbit.

It's time for Hermione to take this exam seriously and show the FF Group that she was ready to play their game; ready enough to lie her way through it and hid behind a false bravado.

She knew that every word was recorded in a Vtrans and her reaction was possibly captured by hidden cameras. She guessed that the FF Group was looking for someone very interesting and Hermione was going to show them that she could be a very interesting person indeed.

At the moment, Dr. Slughorn was rifling through his holotab, skimming his fingers through it as if searching for something.

"It said here in your profile that you have no previous relationship...and lack the.. _experience._ Yet you appear to be confident in your...feminine capabilities to gain favour with the Death Eaters or the Marauders." Dr. Slughorn commented, allowing his words to hang heavily in the air.

Hermione didn't let the smile slip off her face, while on the inside, she was mentally reprimanding herself for acting so overconfident.

"Yes, I may not have any experience with relationship, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm ignorant of such things." Hermione responded, plastering a fake smile.

"If that is what you say, so do you mean, you are willing to offer yourself to any of them just to save yourself from getting expelled?"

 _Not likely!_ Hermione inwardly frowned. She wasn't going to do that of course.

However, she would certainly find a way to gain the two groups trust, befriend or impress them in some way, just enough to have any of them save her from getting expelled.

"Yes," she lied instead.

Dr. Slughorn regarded her in a contemplative manner.

"I have years of experience as a Psychologist to know when someone is lying." the doctor stated, suddenly smiling.

At his words, the fake smile on Hermione's lips wavered.

"You need more practice with that before you can get into the Castle, Ms. G... otherwise you will become easy prey to those who have mastered the art of deception..."

Hermione opened her mouth and closed it again. She didn't know what else to say. Should she apologize for lying?

Dr. Slughorn must have seen the uncertainty on her face because he said, "You need not worry, Ms. G. I won't hold it against you for lying. After all, this is a test to see how far you will go to slither your way up into the finals, which will require a certain degree of cunning in your part to achieve it."

* * *

 **Present….**

Hermione was done with most of the exams. Astonishingly, Dr. Slughorn had cleared her mentally fit to enter the Castle and scheduled her for the medical exam tomorrow.

After that, Hermione was told that she would meet up with Mr. Dumbledore and Mr. Dippet for the call back, given that she passed her medical exam.

Speaking of exams, other than the one she had been asked to take, there was another Psychological test that they hadn't informed her, and perhaps other finalist as well.

A test that was bound to tick some people off, and would significantly cut off the competition for the final casting if they end up walking out of the place.

Hermione had recently discovered that her room was bugged with micro cameras that was equipped with fast-detection movements and incredible heat sensors.

Currently, she could almost sense two of those floating ten meters behind her back while she lay on her feather-light bed which was doing the rhythmic motion (like in the old times when a ship was anchored in the docks with waves making it bobbed up and down). It would have lulled her to sleep if it weren't for the fact that she was very much aware of being watched.

Hermione had pretended not to notice the flicker, and sometimes the odd disproportion in the air, every time she moved around the room.

She knew that the cameras were capturing her every move, and perhaps it had sometimes made itself known to Hermione just to see how she would react.

Thus far, Hermione merely pretended that it didn't exist. Others might start throwing fits - or freaked out - after realizing that there were cameras following them in the last few days.

However, to Hermione, she decided to treat everything as a learning experience to give her the edge. (She wasn't going to let others treat her like a lab rat. So she might as well adapt the opposite mentality of a guinea pig and prepare herself for the psychological side effects of being locked in a Castle for three months.)

Moreover, she understood the need for the cameras in the room. Other than to ensure that the FF Group had chosen finalists who looked exceptionally well in front of the cameras. It was also another method for the company to desensitize the finalist and prepare them for the nerve-wracking and constant camera-exposure once within the Hogwart's Castle.

She wondered how the others like her were faring and how many were left.

She hoped they were only few.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _I know it takes me a really, really long time to update. But in the meantime, if you lose patience and just can't wait for the next update, you can go read the PWP - Moresome/Foursome (6k words of smut) that is set in this world that I have posted. If you have any question, please don't hesitate to ask. (Because this futuristic AU must be confusing to you)._

 _..._

 **Information:**

 _Sodium Thiopental (Pentothal) is still used in some places as a truth serum to weaken the resolve of a subject and make them more compliant to pressure. The barbiturates as a class decrease higher cortical brain functioning. Some psychiatrists hypothesize that because lying is more complex than telling the truth, suppression of the higher cortical functions may lead to the uncovering of the truth. The drug tends to make subjects loquacious and cooperative with interrogators; however, the reliability of confessions made under thiopental is questionable._ **\- source: Wikipedia**

 **...**

 _Anechoic Chamber_

 _The longest that anyone has survived in the 'anechoic chamber' at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is just 45 minutes._

 _It's 99.99 per cent sound absorbent and holds the Guinness World Record for the world's quietest place, but stay there too long and you may start hallucinating._

 _"In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound."_ **-source: www dot dailymail dot co dot uk - the world's quietest place**

 **...**

 _The **prodigious savant** is a convincing example of suboscine genetic inheritance of the actual instructions and knowledge that precedes learning. That is not to say such inherited skills (nature) cannot be cultivated, enhanced and improved (nurture). They can be. But I agree with Dr. William Carpenter that savants demonstrate a "congenital aptitude for certain mental activity, which showed itself at so early a period as to exclude the notion that it could have been acquired by the experience of the individual. **\- source: "Genetic Memory: How we know things we never learn." by Darold Treffert**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

* * *

 **Pool Time**

Even though she didn't have any appointments that day, Hermione was required to follow through the regular routine that had been set up for her, including gym and pool time.

Madam Hooch, a woman with silver hair and yellow eyes, had explained briefly to her the reason that Hermione needed to do follow the schedule.

" _You must look your best and be comfortable on your own body. Most especially if you are chosen to be among those whom the FF Group planned to lock up in a castle; a mansion full of micro-cameras, monitoring and capturing every little thing you do 24/7. Hence, it is required that you need to look good or you will be lambasted by critics around the world."_

It wasn't only that of course. Another reason was because the finalists were going to live amongst the people who were supposed to be considered as demigods by most.

Looking like a second-rate citizen from the gutters of the Nether Valley, would definitely put off some viewers. Thus, the scheduled Gym and pool time to make the potential finalists physically fit and for them to get use to showing off their bodies out in the open.

It still grated on Hermione's nerves that she had to look nearly perfect, or so-so to please people that she hardly knew. She wouldn't have done this at all. If not for the chance of being Locked Up, and finally get the opportunity to talk to someone from the Purebloods, or anyone from the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

She would have flat-out refuse the demand than to alter the perspective of herself just to suit other people's taste.

Now that she had gotten the time to mull things over, Hermione wanted to voice out her opinions on those high and mighty Purebloods regarding their outright refusal to let someone like her from climbing up.

However, normal people - or _muggles_ , as what Purebloods were liken to call them - who showed signs to be more _gifted_ ; a prodigy like them, were considered as a threat to the order of things.

As a result of genetic inheritance, the Purebloods thought themselves as superior in terms of genetic make-up, with their Pureblood DNA encoded with the S human genome that made most of them a prodigy; people with sophisticated inherited capacity that allowed them to acquire an astonishing amount of skill-sets in their repertoire, which would normally take years of experience to master, wherein the purebloods could do in a short span of time.

Likewise, individuals belonging to the Sacred Twenty-Eight, or descended from the Old Blood line, had a vaster and ready-made mental hard drive if compared to individuals with diluted blood.

They were programmed for any areas of expertise that they set their minds to - whether it be music, art, mathematics or other fields that interest them - they could easily excel in all of them as manifested through prodigious skills.

This was the main reason most of Pureblood Families and their allies had further entrenched itself into the society, earning a higher place in the social spectrum while casting aside business competitions and possible intellectual threats that sometimes came up from normal people like Hermione.

There were hardly any products that weren't built or made from companies led by the Purebloods, or appointed ministry officials or highly talented people in the mainstream media that didn't come from the Pureblood line.

Hermione feared that it would continue to do so in the future. Hindering muggleborns, or normal people with an IQ that rivals that of the Pureblood, from stepping further up the ladder without fear of getting crushed by those already at the top.

It was akin to climbing Mount Olympus and with contemptuous Gods looking down on people whom they deemed as unworthy.

So the chance of Hermione talking to them, these men considered to be demigods without getting snubbed, was... _poor._

Even though some of the members of the Marauders or the Death Eaters weren't Purebloods, but half-bloods, like Severus Snape, he was still regarded to be a part of the upper echelon.

Hermione recalled reading somewhere on the interholo that Severus Snape was the son of the Chairman of the National Security Council of the UEF while his mother had been a Pureblood, who had a small chain of Pharmabotanical stores.

Meanwhile, Hermione knew that Remus Lupin was the son and heir to the Bionex Corporation. However, he was more notable by the fact that he had been one of the children who had been abducted and experimented by the notorious Biorobotechonologist, Fenrir Greyback, right before the lunatic was sent to the Azkaban Prison.

It was said that Greyback had left a parting gift (more of a curse) to the children. It was a virus called the Lycanthropy virus, which would manifest in every full moon. Those who were infected was said to turn into mindless beasts with the strength of a hundred men and a killer instinct to match with their bestial side.

It was Remus Lupin's father who was responsible for improving the pill that would temporarily keep the symptoms at bay, as what most Doctors diagnose, during a **_Full Moon Crisis_**.

The name of the pill was called Wolfsbane, which was mostly produced and supplied by the Bionex Corporation.

Peter Pettigrew, on the other hand, was the son and heir to Hackuru Techonologies. Other than that, most information on him was hard to come by. Although Hermione heard rumors about him having a shady connection to the gutter rats in the Nether Valley.

His innocent, boyish looks was said to be a facade to hide his secret dealings with the Black Plague; a mysterious man notorious for bringing down an entire Holo Network in Godric's Hollow with a virus called Wormhole; a type of virus that crept sneakily past any Fiendfyre Wall and high-level HSI system, such as the D-Mentor.

Lastly, Hermione's thought drifted towards Tom Riddle Jr.

Despite his half-blood status, most of the Pureblood families had easily accepted Tom Riddle Jr. as one of them. Due to his Old Blood line, reaching far back to the Peverells and his Slytherin ancestor, Tom Riddle didn't have a hard time blending in well with the Pureblood Society.

Apparently, being best friend with James Potter had benefited Tom Riddle Jr. too.

Still, with diluted blood or not, Hermione knew that she would have a hard time trying to make any of them listen to her concern.

These men were called prodigies. One of the best produced from the Pureblood Society, who could perfect anything that they could perfect, even to the extent of cultivating their musical talent in just six months.

As disconcerting as it for Hermione to think, Purebloods could conquer anything, even the World of Music as proven by the formation of the instant global sensation, the All-Male Band; The Marauders and The Death Eaters.

It seemed Purebloods don't have boundaries when it came to showing off their inborn gifts, which annoyed Hermione to no end.

Suddenly, she recalled Mr. N, who had the habit of rubbing off his wealth and prestige just by buying and eating extravagant meals in front of Hermione, smilirking (she didn't know whether it was a smile or smirk, but it was a mixture of both.) at her when Hermione use her stipend money to buy food with a reasonable price, to make her money last for an entire week. (The FF Group didn't give her a huge amount for her stipend after all.)

It made Hermione wonder if she had been given less, compared to Mr. N, because she wasn't a pureblood.

With that thought in mind, Hermione swam towards the end of the pool, her lean arms working with each side stroke. In her weeks there, Hermione was under strict order to gain weight and build her muscles to reach an average Body Mass Index.

She hadn't even realized that she had been bordering on underweight until she had stepped onto the weighing scale and Madam Hooch had calculated her BMI.

Tomorrow for her medical exam, she was certain that the examiner had no complaints about her current weight. She made sure that she ate the right food to promote muscle-building in combination to her exercise regime.

Hermione reached the edge of the infinity pool. Using her legs to keep her afloat, she placed both her arms over the translucent basin, looking down at the death defying height that gave her a sense of vertigo.

The only thing that prevented people from jumping off the balcony or leap from the infinity pool and over the clouds, was the invisible barrier that surrounded each hotel room; albeit only hotel rooms with pools like hers.

On the outside, the six feet swimming pool on her balcony would have looked like it was held by a translucent glass basin, but in truth, there was a barrier that stopped it from completely flowing down the 2,500 feet height where it would have resembled a cascading waterfall.

The novelty of being able to stay in the L. Cauldron Hotel had ultimately faded. Despite the chance of gazing upon the spectacular view outside her hotel room, Hermione no longer feel slightly impressed by it, not while she knew that the cameras were still monitoring her move.

Even until now, she could feel its unseen lenses pressing on her back…

Gulping a lungful of air, Hermione dove under the water. She held her breath and sat at the bottom with her legs crossed. Staring outside the see-through barrier in front of her, she saw hovcars flying by and some artificial clouds drifting amongst the supermega-skyscrapers.

With the veil mode turned on, there won't be anyone to see her bathing in the pool while wearing her periwinkle blue two-piece swimsuit; a kind of swimwear that most would regard as something old-fashioned.

Hermione stayed under the water, holding her breath. She observed almost absent-mindedly while her hair rose and fluttered around her, she remembered the moment when she had told her parents about being invited to the L. Cauldron for the **_Locked Up_** casting process.

It was during dinner time.

" _Someone called me today," Hermione began, piercing a berry grape fruit with her fork. She watched as light pink juices trickled down between the fork's tines as she brought the fruit to her mouth._

 _The flavour of both grape and strawberry flooded her taste buds. Hermione relished the taste, mildly odd though it was, and chewed._

 _The fruit was a byproduct from the Longbottom Plantation, renowned for producing hybrid fruits as a result from selective breeding, stone fruit breeding and botanical bioengineering._

 _The Father of Advanced Nectarine - Frank Longbottom - had 1,000 hybrid plant patents, most of them not even the result from cross-pollination of plants from the same genus or specie. His son and protégé, Neville Longbottom - Hermione read from somewhere - was said to have created new patents of his own even at the age of ten. A prodigy amongst the family of prodigies as expected of a Pureblood._

 _The berry grape was one of heir's creation._

 _Her parents paused, looked up and waited for her to continue. Hermione savoured the berry grape fruit for a while before swallowing it down._

 _Then, she told them, "A woman named Minerva McGonagall from the Four Founder's Group said to me that I've been invited to come to the L. Cauldron Hotel for something called, the final casting process."_

" _Final casting process? Is that some kind of job interview?" Joseph Granger, Hermione's father, asked._

 _Hermione shook her head._

" _No, Dad. It's not really a job interview but I was told that there will be a series of interviews and exams that I was supposed to go through. It's an elimination process to choose the right people who will join in the social experiment called the Locked Up."_

" _I think we heard that on the news Joseph," Allison Granger said, turning to look at her husband. "Isn't that the one where you are supposed to stay inside the Castle for three months, together with those prodigies?"_

" _Yes, Mom. It's the same one, but there will be thirty candidates as well."_

" _What about your plans to study for the entrance exam this summer, Hermione?" Hermione's father reminded her._

" _I still plan to do it, Dad." Hermione replied. "The woman gave me the time to think twice about the invitation. She told me that she'll call me again by tomorrow for my final answer... but I think I'll tell her that I won't be going to the L. Cauldron Hotel.."_

" _Did you verify the Caller ID, Hermione? Just to make sure that it's not one of those scams I've often heard the **Black Plague** has been leading on." Hermione's mother said, a hint of worry tinging her voice._

" _Yes, Mom. My holophone had scanned and confirmed the rune code that had been transmitted. The woman was using a registered number with the certified company crest. She's not one of the Black Plague's rats."_

 _There was a short pause as her parents regarded her._

" _Are you sure you don't want to accept the invitation, Hermione?" Allison Granger asked. She had a contemplative gleam in her eyes when Hermione met her gaze._

" _Yes..." Hermione answered, her brows furrowing, then she added in uncertainty._

" _Should I?"_

" _Joining this social experiment and entering the Hogwart's Castle would, in someway, give you an opportunity to forge connection with someone from the Sacred Twenty Eight, or anyone descended from the Pureblood line."_ _Allison Granger pointed out._

" _It means.. that if you know someone from any of those highly-esteemed companies, such as the Riddle LabCorp, or Potter Electronic Industries, the Black Space Technologies, the multi-national company, Malfoy Financial Group Inc., or even some smaller companies like the Bionex Corporation - companies that might as well control most of the stock market in all UEF - it will be easier for you to find the type of work that you want once you graduate from Uni."_

 _The frown on Hermione's brows deepened at what her mother was suggesting._

" _I'm not a social climber Mom, nor am I going to grovel, or sleep my way to the top just to get a benefactor in one of those companies." She stated firmly._

" _You know your mother didn't mean it like that Hermione." Joseph reprimanded while Allison Granger looked aghast at the thought of her own daughter doing just that._

" _I'm not saying that you have to do it using your... **feminine wiles** , Hermione. I'm saying that you can make a lasting impression on them by...engaging them in some form of intellectual debate? Just think of it as a job interview when you meet these men. And aren't there cameras in the castle? I think there won't be any... **sleeping around** going on there, young lady…" Hermione's mother said tersely._

But Hermione's mother had been wrong.

Dr. Slughorn had informed Hermione that the Marauders and the Death Eaters were allowed to do some... _things_ discretely when they had the need for it.

Finalists who were invited to.. _.rendezvous_ with any of group members were allowed to enter secret chambers or required rooms to do the deed without someone seeing or hearing them on the act.

Beneath the crystal clear water, Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. If she ever received those kinds of proposition, she was going to punch them in the face.

She didn't care if the whole world sees her do it.

Unable to hold her breath any longer, Hermione shot back to the surface, instantly gulping a lungful of air.

Her time was up.

Pool time was over.

She swam back to the other end, the newly-formed muscles on her arms working.

A moment later, she stood over the silver rectangle area that hid the stairs of the pool. Faintly, she heard the muffled thumping sound beneath the water which told her that the stairs were about to rise up.

It took only a few seconds before the thin, panels with rubber pads - to prevent from slipping - came sliding upwards one by one for Hermione to thread on.

Without looking down, Hermione ascended up the rising stairs while stating out loud, "HCC System OFF," for the voice recognition to pick up her command.

Behind her, she instantly felt the drop of temperature into something more mildly warm. She didn't glance back to see that the tendril of steam that rose up from the pool, and the current of hot air that bellowed around the balcony during her swim, was gradually disappearing.

The frameless, sliding doors that led inside to her hotel room, opened as she neared it. The mist on its glass, that was caused by the steam of the pool, faded.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw a flicker in the air; just a brief flash of silver but it was enough to tell Hermione that the cameras were still rolling.

She made her way to the bathroom.

…...

 **Hours later…**

Hermione was lying flat on her stomach, on her feather-floating bed with her head propped on top of her crossed arms.

She was ultimately growing bored with nothing else to do. Normally, she would have open her holobook and start studying, but that too, had failed to draw her interest.

It was only a few minutes later that Hermione decided to use the entertainment room.

…

She turned her attention to the small black box lying on the black geometrical table on the Entertainment room. The FF Group were allowing her unlimited access to the interholo and the AR Vision. Yet she hadn't tried to use the AR Vision that had come out of the market that year.

She was suddenly curious about the new AR that most of the denizens had been raving about. After recalling the code the she had seen swirling above the AR box, Hermione turned it on using voice activation.

"M.Y.R.T.L.E," She stated each letters out loud.

Immediately, the box began to unravel, collapsing unto itself. It emitted a pulsing blue light a few seconds before a translucent girl with glasses appeared in front of her.

"Good Afternoon," she greeted in a high-pitched voice. "My name is M. Myrtle and I will be your _AR Assistance_ for today. How may I of help?"

"Good Afternoon, Myrtle." Hermione said in turn. "This is actually my first time using the AR Ultimate Experience so I'm not sure how to go on about this whole thing."

"I understand, Miss. No need to worry though. The process itself is simple. It's still similar to AR Vision 2.0. However, the only difference is that you will be able to access the special features called _Live_ and _Personal Touch_."

Hermione had read about those features in the news blog and most of the reviews about the new AR were positive when the product came out.

The _Live_ feature allowed the perceiver to appear that they were truly in a Live Concert while the _Personal Touch,_ like the name entailed, allowed the perceiver to feel the recorded synthetic touches and scents, as well as see and hear.

Nonetheless, she heard that certain chemicals were used to enhance and trick the mind into believing that the perceiver share the same reality as the one they were currently viewing.

Hermione didn't completely understand the science behind it, but from what she had gathered. The _Potter Electronic Industries_ alongside with the _Riddle LabCorp_ had work hand in hand to develop a special kind of robot that was covered and powered by highly-sensitized and flexible sensor array made from transparent zinc-oxide thin film-transistors, and an activated carbon fabric that would both record pressure touch and capture scent, respectively.

Meanwhile, an analog haptic devices were used to carefully tabulate the data received from the sensors, while chemical analyzers would identify the trapped ambient scents, which the devices could synthetically reproduce or induced to provide the product consumer an Ultimate Experience of Augmented Reality.

Other than hearing and seeing the reality, those who are using the new AR Vision would be able to experience the recorded sense of touch and smell.

The only downside was that the Live and Personal features were from recorded moments of the Marauders and the Death Eaters. Exclusive to the heirs of the companies that had funded, developed and introduced the new AR Vision to the market; revolutionizing a new kind of AR.

The AR Project was funded by both the Malfoy Financial Group Inc. and the Black Space Technologies. However, after the rift between the heirs of the _Riddle LabCorp_ and the _Potter Electronic Industries_ , the two have gone their separate ways since then, forming equally beneficial partnerships with other prestigious companies (and powerful families).

Truly brilliant, really, to form an All-Male Band - composed of the wealthiest, attractive, Pureblood prodigies (and so irritatingly perfect) - just to promote a product that target most of the female audience (and some males) and spurring other big companies to surely want to use the new technology for their own applications.

The two bands had only started six months ago and yet they had already captured the hearts of many from all across the globe.

Their music was a constant hit once it came out, with both group competing for the Top One spot in the Music Charts.

Hermione's knowledge about them was rather limited, and most of it she had gathered from news outlet, from her best friend, Cho Chang and some unreliable sources.

Aside from knowing what companies they owned, and about some of the member's brief background history, Hermione knew nothing about them in general.

This would be something that she needed to rectify soon.

If she was going to be _Locked Up_ with them, Hermione needed to study the members closely.

"If I want to access the band's profile, do I need to use the live or personal feature for that?" She asked the AR assistance.

"No, it is optional. You may use the old model, the AR 2.0, while accessing their Profile." Myrtle informed her.

"That's good then," Hermione sighed, and said "Can you please retrieve their Member's Data Sheet?"

Myrtle disappeared from sight. A second later, a giant holoscreen encompass the space in front of her.

Hermione could see Myrtle moving through the HSI, taking out files and moving them on the screen.

Hermione soon found herself looking at pictures of ten men – probably from their solo photoshoots – either wearing formal suits, semi-formal, casual, or simply posing as half-naked, and in a titillating way, and wearing something that resembled a tight-fitting boxer shorts (or are they swimming trunks?) that Hermione could practically see the shape of their crotches.

She flushed scarlet.

"This is Draco Malfoy's Data Sheet." Myrtle stated, and without warning, the AR assistance expanded the picture of him wearing those god-forbid swimming trunks and with his biodata beside his picture.

The AR Assistance was a complete perv.

Hermione wasn't sure, but she must have heard Myrtle emit a girlish giggle. She had a nagging feeling that Myrtle was a fan of Draco Malfoy.

 _Is it getting hot in here or is it just my face?_ Hermione thought, flushing scarlet and trying to stop the urge to fan her face, or leave the room.

Hermione heard a sound that came from the AR.

Yep, Myrtle was giggling alright. Hermione realized as she scrutinized the blonde male in front of her. Although she couldn't fault the AR Assistance for having an impeccable taste in men.

Like any Pureblood aristocrat – other than being a prodigy – Draco Malfoy was endowed with the looks and body that might one considered perfect.

In comparison to the holoshot that she had seen in Dr. Slughorn's office, this picture of the youngest Malfoy heir was taken recently. His hair was slightly longer, brushing past his ears. His silver eyes were hooded by his light-blonde, sooty lashes to create that typical bedroom-look, so powerfully seductive, and coupled with that infamous Malfoy smirk – his picture alone might have send women suffering with a sudden onset of heat stroke.

The Pureblood male had his thumbs hooked around the waistband of his trunks, perhaps to deliberately direct the viewer's eyes towards his drool-worthy abdominal muscles, (Hermione wanted to roll her eyes at the blatant display), or the Malfoy had done it to draw the viewer's gaze to the shallow grooves, or the 'V' line that ran down from his iliac crest and disappearing into his blue-black, skin-fit trunks.

Hermione forced herself not to stare at the outline of a ginormous package between his legs. With the light hitting his blonde hair just right, Draco Malfoy might have look like Apollo (and perhaps he had the right to that Apollo's belt on his hips after all). His hair looking more like a white-gold halo over his head, and Hermione was relieved that they hadn't added glitter over his skin to make him sparkle. (like that stupid vampire from that old movie almost more than a hundred years ago.)

He wasn't overly muscled that would definitely put Hermione off, but he had the perfect musculature for his height.

Suddenly realizing that she had been staring for too long. Hermione decided that it might be better to look at their data profile later.

She certainly felt like M.Y.R.T.L.E would gladly continue staring at half-naked men in the holoscreen, rather thoroughly, but not Hermione.

Hermione needed to understand these men that she might have to live in the next three months alongside thirty strangers.

Perhaps she could listen to one of the bands playing on the _Live_ feature to understand how they interact with their fans. She had heard The Marauder's song, "The Marauder's Map' was at the Number One in the Music Hit Chart for the last two weeks, beating even Tom Riddle's single album the 'Dark Mark' and Draco's 'Mudblood' song.

However, she heard from Cho Chang that the Death Eaters had been releasing solo albums to increase their fanbase, with Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle accumulating more and more fans, followed by Severus Snape, who sang a haunting song called, 'Doe me a favour', then Regulus Black's with his heart-rending, 'Alone and Drowning,'

Of course, the Marauders weren't going to let themselves get beaten and started releasing their own solo albums as well. Cho Chang had insisted that Hermione listened to their songs before. Hermione did, though she was only able to listen to Remus Lupin's song called, 'Cursed Moon' and Peter Pettigrew's, 'I smell a Rat,' which she found the latter utterly ridiculous.

But Hermione needed to see the band interacting together.

On her way to the L. Cauldron Hotel, she had heard the 'Marauder's Map' playing in the Knight's Hov. Maybe watching the Marauders Live Concert singing that particular song would give Hermione an idea about the entire group dynamic. Cho Chang, who had gone to their concerts before, had told Hermione that she had enjoyed the Concert so much that she had practically cried when it ended.

Cho's favorite song was the Marauder's Map, and Hermione wanted to see it in _Live._

"I want to watch a concert of the Marauders. Is that possible?" Hermione said.

"With the _Live Feature_?" Myrtle asked.

"Yes,

"Of course," the AR Assistant, Myrtle said automatically, taking in a much serious tone. "What concert would you like to watch?"

Myrtle was moving through the HSI again and showing videos of the Marauders. From the most recent to the oldest, and with labels of the dates and the places that they had been during their Concert Tour.

Hermione scanned the videos.

Her eyes landed on a dark-haired man, Sirius Black playing his air guitar; its string glowing with a red colour as he plucked it, the form of the guitar illuminating like a pulsing beat in time to his musical chords that he's playing.

Likewise, Hermione saw a blue light, the size of a knut, flashing on the shell of the man's ear, that resembled a stud earing. It told Hermione that the man was using the earmic that would instantly pick up his voice frequency as he sang.

Although there was no sound from the holovid, Hermione knew that the man was singing his lines in the music, and he was smiling mischievously at the audience.

Cho was a big fan of the rebel Sirius Black.

Hermione chose that video, which she read was a concert held in Belgium just two weeks ago, and they were playing the, "Marauder's Map."

Already knowing how to use the old version of the AR vision, Hermione raced her fingers into the air and said, "Key Locked," where a red beam from the laser sensors attached itself on her fingerpads.

This allowed her to control the holographic screen in front of her.

Hermione tap the video of the one she had chosen and ordered Myrtle, "Play it in the _Live Experience."_

"Of course," came the disembodied voice of the girl which reverberated throughout Hermione's bedroom.

"Live Experience selected. Please step into the circle." Myrtle told her and Hermione looked down and saw a faint circle five paces away from her.

"Is this where you use the chemicals on me to enhance my AR experience?"

"Yes," came the AR assistant's reply.

Hermione contemplated this for a second before finally deciding.

"Ok. I hope I won't be experiencing any negative side effects from the chemical spray." Hermione said out loud as she stepped into the white glowing circle on the floor.

"The chemicals have been tested for safety with live humans during the product development. There haven't been any reported cases of side effects of the chemical fumes on the subjects, nor incident reports after the product has been released for consumer consumption."

 _Not yet._ Hermione thought. _The product has been out for about five months after all. That doesn't mean that there won't be a lasting effect._

"I see. That's good." Hermione commented even though she had her doubts.

"I will begin with the environmental scan." Myrtle informed her.

Hermione just nodded her head in silence.

A second later, the room was being scanned from top to bottom with a green laser light beam that spread throughout the expanse of the room.

"Scanning completed. Releasing _Imperio_."

 _Here it comes._

The chemicals - a small dose of scopolamine and a pint of salvia divinorum extract - in its mildest form, would make people open to suggestions, and in turn, trick the mind into believing something that weren't there were actually real.

Although both the companies had tinkered with chemicals to remove the adverse side effects but leaving most of its desired effects to be use. Salvia Divinorum was a dissociative type of hallucinogen, most often used for inducing visions in shamanic rituals. Furthermore, it made users experienced derealization and depersonalization.

Thus, creating an _AR Ultimate Experience._

However, it could also be made into a weapon for mind control. One reason Hermione hadn't been too keen about using the new AR after she had found out about the chemicals.

The AR box shot something in the air, a tiny ball that instantly released white fumes as soon as it neared Hermione.

The fumes wrapped itself around her.

Hermione couldn't stop herself from inhaling the chemicals at once. She tried to fan some of it from her face but the chemicals had already seeped into her.

It took a hold of her mind instantaneously.

Myrtle suddenly told her, "Reality Alteration will be effective in _3, 2, 1_ …"

And just like that, Hermione felt the jolt.

She remembered reading from somewhere that this sensational transition is called _apparition,_ transporting into an alter plain of existence.

Though Hermione knew that the chemicals that she had inhaled had simply tricked her mind into believing that she was at a different place, when truly she hadn't moved from her spot at all.

Hermione appeared, in what she supposed, was the Floating Quidditch Stadium in Belgium.

All around her, the people were chanting, **_"MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS!"_** while waving and jumping in their excitement. They appeared to be holding one of those glowing sticks that blink in different kinds of color.

" ** _MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS!"_**

The combination of voices, of the chanting roar caused such a vibration that instantly set Hermione's heart to racing. Above her, flood lights were moving side to side to pierce the sky.

She was standing amongst the crowd close to the circular stage. The lighting was dimmed that she had a hard time seeing the floor in front of her.

" ** _MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS! MARAUDERS!"_**

It felt real.

Hermione could practically feel the palpable and infectious excitement cloying in the air. She hadn't been in a concert before but this made Hermione nearly allowed herself to be swept by the crowd mentality, to jump and scream and stomp her feet in a rush of excited adrenaline.

Without warning, there was a burst of red and gold smoke and that's when she knew that the concert was starting.

Around her, the people's screams seemed to have increase ten notches and they were waving those lights rather wildly now, jumping in their frenzied excitement.

…

 ** _(Messrs Moony!)_**

 ** _Eh yo, eh yo.._**

{The screaming renewed with fervour, and louder than before.}

 ** _(Wormtail!)_**

 ** _Eh yo, eh yo.._**

{There was a slight dipped in the volume}

 ** _(Padfoot!)_**

 ** _Eh yo, eh yo.._**

{At the Sirius Black's voice, the noise increased once more}

 ** _(And Prongs!)_**

 ** _Eh yo, eh yo.._**

{The screaming didn't cease. In fact, it seemed to have even reach the skies as James Potter introduced himself. Hermione was certain that she would turn deaf after the concert.}

 ** _..._**

 ** _Are you ready?_**

 ** _Here comes the Marauders!_**

 ** _Time for mischief and disorder!_**

 ** _1, 2, 3, 4!_**

 ** _We solemnly swear that we're up to no good!_**

{Then there was an explosion of noise and sound as the people around her shriek and jumped while a complicated series of chords from the air guitars, the fast beat of a drum, and electrical piano being played by the silhouetted men she could see in the enormous holographic screen above her.

{There was spectacular show of dazzling luminaires, from coloured laser lights to flood beams that pierced towards the skies while fog machines were used to create more of dramatically entrance. Hermione could see the shadow of the four men descending into the stage using a circular flying boards while they played their instruments.}

{Then, one of them began to sing. As he did so, his face was revealed when a flood light was aimed at him. It was James Potter. He appeared in the holoscreen, focusing on his handsome features at once. That cocky grin, windswept jet black hair, and wearing his red and gold Gryffindor Quidditch gear. The audience went wild at the sight of him while Hermione listened to him sing the first line of the song.}

 ** _In an innocent, blank parchment._**

 ** _Protected by charms of concealment._**

{Another man appeared on the screen as his voice reverberated throughout the stadium. It was a man with a scar on his face; Remus Lupin. The lights focused on his rugged features. The entire holoscreen expanding to show the audience that he was wearing the same Quidditch gear as James Potter. Some of his fans started chanting, 'Moony! Moony! Moony!'}

 ** _Hides a map that shows the secret ways into her heart,_**

 ** _Of hidden passages and chambers that we chart._**

{As soon as Sirius Black's face showed in the holoscreen, with his mischievous blue-grey eyes and his heart-melting grin. Most of the girls near her let out an ear-piercing shriek that Hermione had to cover her ears and winced. They sounded like a bunch of banshees when Sirius Black showed up in the holoscreen wearing the same Quidditch Gear but with his own personal touch}

 ** _(And passwords that we loathe to part)_**

{The last person to appear was Peter Pettigrew. He was wearing the same clothes as the others and Hermione had to admit that he looked different from the holopicture that she had seen in Dr. Slughorn's office. His hair was blonde and curly now and he was taller too. _Another surgery perhaps?_ }

 ** _A map we created because we're smart._**

 ** _(Also, we want some fun) (and love) (and farts) (Sirius!)_**

{The people were either laughing, screaming and some are even crying as they listened to the four joked. Even Hermione couldn't help but smile as she watched them. Cho was right, the group was entertaining. And there was something about these men that evoked a sense of familiarity in Hermione.}

{They had reached the circular stage in the middle where it began to revolve around clockwise. The bright lights allowed most of the people to see the four men standing there. Hermione continued to listen to them sing.}

 ** _We call it the Marauder's Map._**

 ** _(And I call it a state of the art.)_**

 ** _It's a road map (the key) to (Walmart.)_**

 ** _(Be serious!)_**

 ** _(But I'm Sirius!)_**

 ** _Truly, it's a road map (the key) into her heart._**

 ** _And it repels (spouts insults) those who dares take a peep._**

 ** _(It's always Snivellus) (The creep!)_**

...

 ** _We, who desire a glimmer of moonlight._**

 ** _(With her flushed and breathless from flight)_**

 ** _She often caught us sneaking out again_**

 ** _(She already knows where and when.)_**

 ** _Still she joins us to places she had never been._**

 ** _(And try risque things that most are none too keen.)_**

{The four winked simultaneously that generated yet another round of screaming from their adoring fans. A bubble of laughter threatened to rise up from within Hermione but she bit her lip and hid her smile. The song was making her tingly all over while a warmth had settled on her chest.}

 ** _With a map, a cloak and covered in fur._**

 ** _Beneath the full moon, we meet her._**

 ** _Running and howling to our forbidden adventure._**

 ** _Yet never receiving a protest or a lecture_**

 ** _Such beauty she is with a lioness' mane._**

 ** _She's our Princess (our Queen) in her vast domain._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _As the sun emerges behind red-purple skies._**

 ** _We veiled shadows of regret with mischievous eyes._**

' ** _Till next time' we say to her in our true forms._**

' ** _Keep out of trouble' she quips and leaves like a storm._**

 ** _The promise of another night has never been too far._**

 ** _And we ache (and long) for our moon and star._**

 ** _(Do you mean me?) (And me?)_**

 ** _(Not you Moony! Nor you, Sirius!)_**

 ** _(Who is it then?)_**

 ** _(Ugh, not again!)_**

{Raucous laughter had followed after the four bantered. Hermione was smiling wide now, her foot tapping to the beat. She didn't know these men personally, but some part of her was telling her that, 'Yes, they weren't bad...for a Pureblood.' They were clearly of a different variety. They were nothing like the others she had encountered before.}

{In Beauxbatons, most of the Pureblood girls looked down at her because she was scholar and a muggleborn to boot. These men appeared to be more… _open-minded_. Perhaps it would be easy for Hermione to talk to them, compared to the Death Eaters, if she's been approved for the final casting process.}

 ** _She's ours. (She's mine) (She's mine) the silent wish in our hearts._**

 ** _So we played tricks and mischief, and do our parts._**

 ** _Such childish antics they were, just to get her attention._**

 ** _Because she's brilliant (the brightest) did we forget to mention?_**

 ** _Furtive glances and secret grins are not enough._**

 ** _We are bewitched (mooning over her more like) and it's tough._**

{She heard some girls beside Hermione sighing and commenting out loud, 'I wish this song was about me.'}

{For some reason, Hermione's heart was beating fast. She had trouble breathing. Was it always like this when you're in a concert? To feel… like your losing yourself, feeling a vague sense of disorientation, your vision tunneling into pinpoints that you forget where you are, the people around you, except for the lyrics of the song, the music, and the men who became the center of your world...}

 ** _But with the Marauder's Map, she becomes ours._**

 ** _(Ours) (Ours) (Ours) (Ours)_**

 ** _It's not for the mischief, or frolicking in midnight hours._**

 ** _It's for her, and the magic, and everything at our advantage._**

 ** _However, things must end and we say, 'Mischief Managed'_**

{Then to everyone's delight and shock, the four men started dancing in an impressive and well-choreographed dance routine. With snappy moves, and with equal amounts of swag and mischief, they moved their arms and feet in sync. They did the typical 'Point and Pump', the 'Lasso Switch', 'the Robot Creep', then the 'Stomp and Thrust' before transitioning smoothly to something more fast and complicated without missing a beat. There was a bit of poppin' and lockin' before the four ended up doing some sexy body rolls that caused the crowd to explode into screams and howls once more.}

{The Marauders had playful grins plastered on their faces as they continued to move their bodies in a wavelike motion and focusing more on their hips that absolutely sent the sea of people in the stadium into a tizzy. The cameras zoomed in on their moving hips, moving and expanding their seductive moves in the holoscreen that many were practically howling in near insanity}

{Unable to resist anymore, Hermione laughed in abandon. There was a warmth spreading in her chest, her eyes dancing as she looked at the four men on the revolving stage. The Marauders seemed to derive some enjoyment for driving their audience wild with that one move. Most were either chanting, 'PRONGS! PRONGS!', 'PADFOOT! SIRIUS!', 'MOONY!', a bit of 'PETER!' and she could also hear some 'WOLFSTAR!' thrown in the mix.}

{Then, they resumed their singing}

 ** _We are the Purveyors of Aid._**

 ** _(The Mischief-makers Brigade.)_**

 ** _But above all…(we don't get paid) (or often get laid.) (Peter?!)_**

 ** _We're renegades!_**

 ** _(Yeah, we're renegades!)_**

 ** _(Sometimes we serenade) (or Masquerade)_**

 ** _(And seek daring escapades) (and the chance to get laid!)_**

{That's when Peter Pittegrew ripped his shirt off and threw it to the crowd, revealing his six pack abs. Hermione nearly choked at the sight of his muscles, before laughing in unrestrained mirth while the crowd around her was torn between either gasping in horror/astonishment or squealing in glee.}

{Hermione had expected some of them to take off their shirt, but she had never imagined that it was going to be Peter Pettigrew who had the guts to do it.}

 ** _(Wormtail!)_**

{People guffawed when the other three Marauders scolded Peter Pettigrew for stealing the limelight. The shirtless man looked sheepish but still flexed his arms to show off some more of his lean physique. The rest of the Marauders laughed, which indicated to everyone that it was part of the show.}

...

 ** _And so ends the tale of the Marauder's Map._**

 ** _Now, do you want more mischief or just take a nap?_**

{The Marauders' fans were screaming themselves hoarse when the song ended. Some were either laughing or crying hysterically. Hermione shook her head and grinned. She had to admit that these four men had a certain charm to them with their carefree and slightly juvenile attitude}

...

The lights dimmed once more and the throbbing music faded. And the crowd went back to chanting, 'MORE! MORE!', 'PRONGS!', 'JAMES!', 'PADFOOT!', 'REMUS!', WORMTAIL! and other things that she couldn't distinguish.

James Potter called out, "Are you ready to meet the new members of our band?"

The people around her let out another boisterous roar of: 'YES!', or 'BRING IN THE TWINS!', and 'DOUBLE UP THE TROUBLE!'

"Alright! And here they are!" Sirius shouted. 'Meet up the...!"

...

But before Hermione could see who they were going to introduce, she was jolted back in the entertainment room again. She felt dazed at the unexpected lurch that she swayed a bit.

"Did you enjoy the recorded live concert, Miss G?" She heard Myrtle asked, who let out a giggle afterwards.

Hermione wondered what she had been doing while she was using the _AR Live._

"Yes," She said, steadying herself.

"What do you want to watch next?" Myrtle inquired.

Hermione paused and deduced that she might use the other AR Feature next to get a better feel about the Marauders.

She wondered what the group recorded in the AR to give a _Personal Touch_ to the viewers _…_


End file.
